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Monday, November 04, 2013

French Rioting to dump the Euro

By Chriss Street

French riot police fired water cannons and tear gas at 30,000 truckers, farmers, fishermen and food industry workers waving banners of “Right to Work” and hurling rocks and iron bars at police to protest a new “ecotax” on commercial trucking. The controversial $1.4 billion tax for rail and river expansion is causing layoffs across the French trucking industry. While Socialist government of French President François Hollande is attempting to avoid a “spiral of violence”, former French Prime Minister François Fillon shocked the media by saying that voting for the far-right National Front that wants to dump the euro common currency may now be “acceptable.”

Acceptable is a code-word for acknowledging that Marine Le
Pen’s right-wing National Front party that opposes immigration and euro common
currency has such a strong lead in the polls and that French welfare-state
politicians better get on board with the rebellious conservatives or be
wiped-out in the next election. With one in four voterssupportingthe National
Front in France, Ms. Le Pen is forming a Tea Party type coalition with
nationalists in the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the
Nordic states. With momentum now on their side, the National Front and
its allies seem positioned to win control of the 766 seats European Parliament
next year.

François Charles Armand Fillon is far from a hard right
conservative; he was the chief architect of expanding the French welfare state
over the last decade. As Minister of Labour in 2002, he pushed
through the controversial French35-hour work week law and lowered the age of full
retirement in France to 55 years old. In 2005 asMinister of
National Educationhe led the
adoption of the first “common core”Fillon law on Education. He was politically
rewarded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy with appointment as Prime
Minister of France from 2007 to 2012.

But five years of economic crisis and rising unemployment,
has caused anti-European rhetoric and calls for greater economic protectionism
across France. During this period, support for the National Front rose
from less than 5% in 2008, to 17.9% in the 2012 Presidential elections, and
possibly up to 30% today. Before the last election former President
Sarkozy tried to reach out to the Nation Front by calling for curbs on Muslim
immigrants and protection of European industry from “unfair” Asian competition.
But the National Front rejected the overtures because Sarkozy refused to
abandon the euro.

President Francois Hollande” hard-core socialist policies of
attacking business and the rich have thrilled the Left. But according to
the Heritage Foundation, France’s score for Index of Economic Freedom has
plunged to64.1,
the lowest of any major country in Europe. Even before the ecotax, the
socialist policies had hurt the economy and infuriated the vast majority of
French with a witch’s brew ofnew tax increases, including:

1) Doubling one of the highest corporate tax rates in the
world with a “surtax”;
2) Increase reporting of income and tax obligations subject to VAT tax;
3) Increased pension tax contribution;
4) Energy drink tax of $1.37 per can;
5) Financial transaction tax on all investments;
5) Raising assessed value of all French real estate to collect higher property
taxes; and
6) Data tax on all transfers of all information outside the European Union.

The French Socialists under Hollande also increased deficit
spending for “investments” to such an extent, that the country’s national debt
is expected to reach a dangerous record level of 95.1% of GDP next year.
But while failing to stimulate growth and employment, Socialist massive
spending violated the European Commission’s 3% deficitrule. Consequently, France for the time in since
WWII is being forced to make an “unprecedented” $20 billion in public spending
cuts for 2014. The Left is screaming that the cuts will bring “suffering
to the people” and the National Front is screaming that the higher taxes are
“anti-growth”.

All of this has stimulated the growth of the National Front
in France and their nationalist allies from across the continent to run for
2014 European Union Parliamentary elections as common slate of
candidates. The election rules are unique, because European Parliamentary
members are elected directly by the general population. Europeans have
traditionally been so apathetic about elections that in the last election in
2009, turnout was only 40%. This low participation rate will magnify the
nationalist parties who are highly motivated to end what they believe is
undemocratic domination by liberal elites.

The Parliament after 2009 was given enhanced powers in
nearly all areas of setting EU policy, including oversight of the EU
budget and the ability to appoint the President of the EU
Commission. Consequently, the European Parliament now has equal status
with the European Council, which directly represents the governments of EU
members. A nationalist takeover of Parliament in 2014 would usher in
revolutionary change. They reject most aspects of EU integration, such as
the free movement of people within the bloc and the use of the euro currency.
Nationalists believe the European Union undermines member sovereignty and they
are demanding restoration of states’ rights.

With the National Front and their allies on the verge of
seizing control of the European Parliament and potentially naming its President,
such a stunning victory over the Left would be unprecedented since the collapse
of communism in the 1990s. The member states strengthened the power of
the European Parliament to win the hearts and the minds of all European voters,
but what Europeans seem to want in those hearts and minds is to dump the euro
and end the European Union.

Mr. Grundstein’s pursuit of his interests has provided a good diversion frommmaking a living. His education includes liberal arts at the University of Michigan, culinary training and a degree in piano performance. He has traveled on six continents and produced many articles, editorials, social commentaries and books. The subject matter of his works include public affairs, travel, food and the culture of food.

Under duress, he will admit he went to law school and is a state bar member, but found a dignified way to make a living.

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